High chairs for use in feeding children are well known and can be found in a variety of different styles. Typically, such high chairs include a seat with a seat bottom, a seat back, and some form of side barriers. The seat typically is supported by four legs affixed thereto. A detachable tray normally provided with the high chair is either selectively attachable and detachable from both arms of the chair for complete removal of the tray or is pivotably attached to one arm and attachable and detachable from the opposite arm so that the tray can be pivoted off of the child to allow the child to be removed from the high chair. In order to prevent the child from slipping or submarining out of the chair underneath the tray, some high chairs include some sort of restraint system which is typically a belt and buckle arrangement for fastening about the waist of the infant and preventing movement of the infant out of the seat without disconnecting the belt system. As used herein, the term infant may apply to young children generally and not just to children less than two years of age.
Another type of seat used for feeding children is commonly known as a booster seat and includes a seat bottom, a seat back, and possibly side barriers. The booster seat is typically placed on an adult-sized chair and may serve to "boost" the child up to an appropriate height for eating at a table. Such booster seats typically do not include legs to support the seat. Generally, booster seats may be used by children up to four years of age or more, while high chairs may typically be used for children up to roughly two years of age.
Another type of seating arrangement to allow a child to eat at a counter or table is a clip-on seat, which includes a seat having a seat bottom, a seat back, and side barriers, with elongated arms extending from the side barriers. The elongated arms have portions which are placed above the planar surface of the table and have other portions which are placed below the planar surface of the table to grasp the table between the portions of the extended arms.
At least one design, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,374, includes a high chair in of which a seat is removable from the high chair for use as a clip-on seat or, possibly, as a booster seat. The arrangement for coupling or attaching and detaching the seat from the vertically-oriented frame is rather complex and cumbersome, however. This arrangement includes a pair of parallel flanges on the frame with aligned notches defined thereon which receive a tubular member located on the back of the seat. The flanges also include protuberances thereon which engage with notches defined in the seat back. When the tubular member on the seat has been placed within the notches on the frame and the protuberances have been located within the notches in the seat, a latch on the coupling member attached to the frame can be rotated into latching position to prevent accidental detachment of the seat from the frame. As can be seen, the chair must be engaged and disengaged from the frame by actuating this latch located on the rear portion of the seat. This latch is located in a position which is probably not easily accessible by an operator who is standing in front of the high chair. In addition, in order to remove the high chair from the frame, it is apparently necessary to first rotate the latch into a disengaged position and then for the operator to reposition his or her hands to gripping positions on the seat so as to lift the seat off of the frame. Another drawback of this design is that an auxiliary support which is pivotably connected to the back edge of the seat bottom must be pivoted into an extended position when it is desired to place the seat on top of a planar surface for possible use as a booster seat. This is required because of an extended foot rest which extends down from the front edge of the seat bottom. Thus, it can be seen that conversion of the design from a high chair to a booster seat is an inconvenient, multi-step process.
The removal of the tray from the high chair in most designs is typically accomplished by actuating release mechanisms on each of the two sides of the tray so as to disengage the tray from each of the arms of the high chair. One design, however, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,161 includes release mechanisms for a tray which can be actuated with a single hand of the operator. This mechanism includes an arcuate handle or pivot bar which is pivotably mounted to the underside of the tray. Springs are located between the handle and the underside of the tray to bias the front portion of the handle downward away from the tray. When the handle is in its biased position, a pair of pins, one located on either end of the handle, engage with grooves in the underside of the arms of the high chair. When the front portion of the handle is moved against its bias toward the underside of the tray, the pins are disengaged from the grooves in the arms of the high chair. When disengaged in this fashion, the tray can be slid off of the arms of the high chair via guide clips provided on the underside of the tray. Thus, the tray can be selectively engaged or disengaged with the high chair by actuating the handle with a single hand of the operator toward the underside of the tray and sliding the tray on or off of the high chair. This design includes at least three significant drawbacks. First of all, because of the nature of the engagement and the disengagement of the pins with the grooves and the slidable connection of the tray to the arms provided by the guide clips, it is necessary to carefully and properly position the tray on the high chair so that the elongated portions of the arms are received within the guide clips of the tray. In addition, when the tray is to be engaged or disengaged, it must be slid onto or off of the arms of the high chair. Second, the lever arm is hidden below the tray and may not be noticed or easily found by some operators. The third drawback comes from the inherent nature of the lever arm provided by the handle. When the handle or pivot bar is grasped on the sides of the tray, it may be difficult to pivot the bar sufficiently to disengage the pins from the grooves on the arms of the high chair.
Some modern high chairs are provided with an ability to adjust the angle of the seat of the high chair relative to the frame. Unfortunately most of these high chairs are difficult to adjust due to cumbersome and inconvenient recline mechanisms.
It is against this background and the desire to solve the problems of the prior art that the present invention has been developed.